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Two weeks before the first day of school for students, Holyoke School District Re-1J Board of Education officially hired Kyle Stumpf as Elementary School Principal and Clark Ginapp as Alternative High School director. Action was taken at the board’s Aug. 4 meeting.

This completes the staffing for full-time positions in the school district for the 2009-10 school year.

With former Principal Jennifer Kral’s July 21 resignation, the interviewing process moved rapidly to find a new administrator for the elementary school.

Supt. Bret Miles said he was well-pleased with the applicant pool and conducted seven interviews for the position. While there were strong candidates, Miles said, “experience is king,” and it led to the selection of Stumpf.

For the past six years, Stumpf has served as K-6 principal in the Merino School District. Miles pointed out Stumpf possesses knowledge of key programs the district’s teachers feel will be valuable for the school.

These include Reading First, school-wide Positive Behavior Support and Response to Intervention (RtI). Miles added the RtI plan created for Merino is viewed by many as a model program in the region.

Hired at a salary of $63,000 for a 210-day contract, Stumpf was able to begin work already on Aug. 6.

Ginapp is certainly not new to Holyoke School District, as he retired this year, after 31 years as an English-speech teacher at HHS.

Miles cited a key goal for Holyoke Alternative High School is to be more closely tied with HHS. Miles said Ginapp is a very good fit for that. “I feel his years as a high-quality instructor will be good for the (alternative school) program.”

As a Public Employees’ Retirement Association (PERA) retiree, Ginapp has set up a limited liability company (LLC), which the school district has hired for employment as the alternative school director.

Two coaching assignments were also approved at last week’s school board meeting, with Ron Lock hired as assistant girls’ softball coach and Jim Yakel as head JH boys’ basketball coach.

In a fourth quarter financial report by Director of Finance Sharon Thompson and Miles, the general fund deficit for the year ending June 30 appears to be about $350,000. In budgeting a year ago, the deficit was projected to be $600,000.

Highlighting the fourth quarter report, Miles noted General Fund actual expenditures were extremely close to the budgeted expenditures. Actual figures exceeded budgeted expenditures by close to $38,000.

General Fund actual revenue exceeded the budget by more than $300,000.

Numbers presented at last week’s board meeting were unaudited. Miles noted final numbers will be presented following the financial audit scheduled for late October.

Reviewing further highlights from the final quarter report, Miles said the district will not likely decrease the reserves below the target of $1.2 million set by the board. Reserves will likely be close to $1.3 million.

He also pointed out the food service fund needs additional attention, as it will require a subsidy for three years in a row.

In the athletic fund, Miles noted expenditures did not exceed revenue, while the cost of the program did increase from 2007-08 to 2008-09, mostly due to personnel related costs.

Administrators report from CASE convention

Miles, JR/SR High Principal Susan Ortner and assessment coordinator Kimberlee Bennett reported on the July 28-31 Colorado Association of School Executives (CASE) conference.

Miles cited the update on legislative work that finished up in June. He noted HB1319 will change everything districts do with post-secondary enrollment options.

He also attended a session on school finance and his favorite part—a session on quality grading practices.

Ortner commented on two break-out sessions. The first was put on by Adams Dist. #50 on standards based education—noting it’s about learning, not about time.

The second was given by the Harrison School Dist. supt. from Colorado Springs on effective instructional feedback.

Bennett cited the standards-based education session put on by the Gunnison School District, which is going away from grading.

She also reported on a Response to Intervention session by the Conifer School District. They noted the RtI plan reduced behavioral referrals by a third and tardies by a third.

Other business

In other business at the Aug. 4 meeting, the Re-1J board:

—gave approval for a random drug testing audit. Miles cited the audit process information presented by Ortner July 7. Completing the first year of a high-profile random drug testing policy, Miles said they feel it would be a good idea to have a third party look over the procedures followed.

—supported the new 2009-10 faculty handbook, as combined by principals Ortner and Kral, with assistance from Bennett.

—approved non-resident student applications for Kali Drees and Taylor Hendrix from the Wray school district; Ricky Guernsey, Deyten Klein and Kendra and Kody Timm from the Haxtun district; and Jarod, Jayden and Kacey Jaeger from the Venango, Neb. district.

—granted transportation requests for Guernsey, the Timms, Hendrix and the Jaegers.